"I did not."
"Then maybe you prayed. Was it a prayer?"
"I can"t pray. It"s useless to pray. Those two hands brought in my bread and b.u.t.ter,--the bread and b.u.t.ter for us three. And now they are hopelessly crippled. What can I pray for?"
"Your bread and b.u.t.ter."
"Pshaw!" The girl laughed derisively, then broke off abruptly. "You don"t understand," she said in lifeless tones.
"No," Peace agreed, "p"r"aps I don"t. "Twas _my_ feet. How did you come to burn your hands?"
"Benny upset a lamp, and--I had to put out the fire. He can"t run, either. He is a cripple."
"Oh!" the voice was sharp with distress, and in spite of herself, the older girl"s face softened. "You--you care?" she whispered.
"Of course I care," cried Peace warmly. "Poor little Benny! He is little, ain"t he? He sounds little. Can"t you have him cured?"
"Perhaps, if there was any money to pay the bills. But so far, it has taken every cent I could earn to keep us in food and clothes. I had hoped my book would be successful and that the royalties would be enough to take care of us, so the short story money could pay for an operation. But now I can never finish the book."
"Can"t you get a typewriter? You could use one of those, couldn"t you?
Grandpa has one for his work at home, and he thumps it with only one finger on each hand."
"Do you know how much a typewriter costs?" she asked.
"No. Very much?"
"More than I could ever spend for one."
"And there"s no one else to help?"
"No one. My father is dead. Benny"s mother,--my sister,--is dead. Her husband is a drunken sot. We turned him out long ago. It was he who crippled Benny. Poor little Benny! He"s only three, and he will never have a chance with the other boys and girls."
"I"ve got five dollars," Peace shyly confided. "It"s all my own to do as I please with. I want you to take it. Will it buy a typewriter?"
"O, my, no! They cost heaps of money,--a hundred dollars for a brand new one of the kind I want. But--but it"s real dear of you to offer me your money. I can"t take it, child. I"m not a beggar."
"We weren"t beggars in Parker, either; but it came in mighty handy sometimes to have folks give us things. Course we always tried to _earn_ them if we could, and if you want to _earn_ this money, you might write me five dollars" worth of stories. Oh, I forgot!" She glanced hastily at the crippled hands, then averted her eyes. "Truly I did. But you needn"t be snippy about my money. I know what "tis to be poor."
"You! Why, your grandfather is President of the State University, Miss Pierson says."
"That"s my make-believe grandfather. My truly real one has been dead for ages. Then papa died, and fin"ly mother, which left us to dig for ourselves. We were worse off than you, "cause there were six of us and not one knew how to write stories for money. I guess we"d all have starved to death or gone to the poor farm if Grandpa hadn"t come along just about that time." Before Peace was aware of it, she had poured out the whole history of the little brown house in Parker, while the other crippled girl listened spellbound.
"What a plot for a book!" she sighed ecstatically when the narrator had finished. "And what a picture for one of the characters!" She fell to studying Peace with a new interest in her heart.
"O, do you mean to write us up in a book?" cried Peace, fascinated with the idea. "That"s what Gail has always threatened to do, but I don"t expect she ever really will. Wouldn"t it be splendid to have a story written all about ourselves? What shall you call it? Will you let me know when it is done so I can read it and see what kind of stuff you write?"
But a shadow had fallen across her companion"s face, so bright and animated a moment before, and again she glanced involuntarily at the bandaged hands which both in their eagerness had forgotten. But before either could speak, there was a rustling sound of stiffly starched skirts behind them, and Miss Keith, from the floor below, stepped around the corner.
"Why, Peace Greenfield!" she exclaimed at sight of them. "What a start you gave us! Don"t you know you must never leave your own floor without permission? If the elevator boy hadn"t put us wise, we probably would be phoning to the police by this time. Come downstairs now. Your sister is waiting for you in your room."
So Peace departed, but not until she trundled through the doorway of her room did she remember that the stranger had not told her name.
"O, dear," she greeted Gail. "I do show the least sense of anyone I know."
"What seems to be the matter?" asked the big sister, amused at the look of disgust on the small, thin face.
"I"ve just been gabbing with a real author lady, who has burned her hands "most off, so she can"t write any more, and I forgot to ask her name."
"Why, what are you talking about?" inquired Gail, amazed at the unexpected answer.
"The author lady I just found crying in a corner upstairs because she can"t write stories any more. That"s the way she"s been earning the bread and b.u.t.ter for her family, and she don"t know what will happen to them now. I thought maybe a typewriter would do the work, but she says it costs a hundred dollars to buy the kind she wants, and she wouldn"t take my five. There"s a baby boy, too, who can never walk unless there is an operation and of course it takes slathers of money for that."
"Whose baby boy are you interested in now?" asked a deep ba.s.s voice from the doorway, and Peace whirled about to confront young Dr. Shumway just entering the room.
"His name is Benny, and he b"longs to the little author lady upstairs who got burned "most to death trying to put out the lamp which he tipped over. His mother is dead, and the little author lady has to take care of him and her own mother. I plumb forgot to ask what her name is, but I "member now that she called her nurse Miss Piercing."
"Oh!" Dr. Shumway seemed more enlightened with that sc.r.a.p of information than with all the rest of the story, and he stood stroking his chin thoughtfully, as he gazed absently at Gail seated by the window.
"Do you know her?" asked the small patient when he made no further comment.
"I know whom you mean," he answered slowly. "But she is not my patient.
Dr. Rosencrans has that case. Where did _you_ find out about her?"
Peace again recounted the history of her recent adventure, and the story lost nothing in its telling, for the child was profoundly impressed, and she had the knack of making her listeners feel with her.
"I recall now," he said, turning to Gail when the tale was ended, "there was some talk of amputating the hands at first,--they were so dreadfully burned,--but the little lady would not permit it. She has suffered tortures with them, but I understand that they are healing nicely now, though they will probably always be crippled, and many months must elapse before she can use them again. She is a game little woman, but very close-mouthed,--almost morose. She seemed simply overwhelmed by her catastrophe and none of the staff could get anything out of her." He glanced significantly down at Peace, but she was apparently unconscious of what she had accomplished, and the conversation turned to other channels.
There was a very homesick little girl in one of the rooms across the hallway, who had done nothing but cry since the ambulance had brought her to the hospital, and the doctor wanted Peace to make her a little visit. So for the next few days the brown-haired elf was so absorbed in this new task of cheering unhappy Gertrude that she had little time to think of the author lady on the floor above; and Gail was not prepared for the tragic face that greeted her when she made her usual call at Peace"s room one day about a week later.
"Why, what has happened?" demanded the older sister, glancing about her in alarm.
"Miss Wayne"s gone away without ever saying good-bye to me," gulped the child in grieved accents. "Her patient with the _fractious_ hip died and she had a case somewhere in the country which she had to go to, but she never told me a word about it. I didn"t think she was that kind. I liked her so much, and now--"
"But, Peace," interrupted Gail tenderly, "she came to say good-bye last evening and you were asleep. I had gone home and there was no time to write a note as she had planned to do, so she told d.i.c.k--er, I mean Dr.
Shumway. But he forgot to deliver the message this morning when he came in to see you, and just now met me with the request that I tell you, with his apologies. Miss Wayne will be back here at the hospital before you go home undoubtedly, for she is a very popular nurse, not only with her patients, but with the doctors who send their cases here for treatment. So you mustn"t fret. She did not forget,--she never can,--for I am sure she loves you dearly, and if you had been awake she would have said good-bye in person."
"Well, I"m glad of that," said Peace, much mollified at the explanation.
"But anyway, my author lady is gone, and I don"t even know her name."
"Yes," answered Gail brightly, "the little author lady has gone home, but Benny is here."
"Benny?"
"The crippled baby she told you about. Surely you remember."
"Course I remember. But how did he get here when there wasn"t any money?"
"Dic--Dr. Shumway investigated the case, and found it was even more pitiful than the little author lady had pictured it; so he persuaded them to let him operate on the baby for nothing, and he _thinks_ Benny"s little crooked back can be made entirely well. He left some medicine for the poor, patient invalid mother, and she is going to get better, too. Isn"t it all lovely?"